Hello lovelies! I hope all of you are doing amazing! This week it has

rained so much, like insane amounts and it hasn't been all that humid!

It has been a good week to serve the Lord, and we've seen little

blessings here and there. So, we had transfers this week and we are

both staying in the area for another six weeks!

So this week we had exchanges with Sister Burrell and Sister Norman,

our Sister Training Leaders! I stayed here with Sister Burrell and

Sister Bush headed up to Strousberg with Sister Norman! Sister Burrell

and I had a grand time here! We were able to do a lot of tracting, we

talked to a few interesting people and most of them were very kind! We

also had a chance to set up a time to meet with a former investigator

that we've been trying to get into contact with! It was so awesome! I

learned so much about tracting, and new ways to tract instead of just

"hi we would like to show you a video"

We also got to meet with the most recent member of the YSA! Angel was

baptized in Virginia and then moved up to glorious Allentown, PA! So

we have been trying to meet with him for quite sometime now, and we

finally did this week! He is so awesome! He really understands the

gospel, and he has a great testimony! He was a little shy at first to

share it with us but he did and it was so powerful! The spirit entered

the room as he spoke and it was so amazing! The spirit is so amazing,

I love being able to have it with me at all times as I serve and obey

and become!

We got to go see Brenda again this week and had a powerful experience

with her! We shared Ether 12:27 and talked about how she is amazing.

That sometimes we view ourselves different from the way that others

view us, and especially when it comes to how Heavenly Father sees us.

It was so awesome, the spirit was so powerful and she told us that is

we could find her a ride, she would come to church! Sadly, she got

super freaked out before and ended up not coming, but she is amazing!

We also got to go visit with Eleanor this week, she's this sweet 101

year old lady and she loves to play a game called kings in the corner,

so we played that with her and just talked! She had had a rough

morning and just really needed some company. We got to be that for

her! It is so awesome to be a representative of the Savior in all

different ways!

This week I realized I've come to learn a few things, first that

Christ truly was so obedient and that obedient people are given hard

trials to prove that we will be obedient through it all. Second, that

we aren't called because we are qualified but that we will be

qualified because we are called. Third, we are given trials because we

need to learn something.

Our area has been going through a rough spot, especially recently.

It's been a really great learning and growing experience. I've learned

that repentance isn't just for sins or transgressions or mistakes, but

it's for when we don't feel qualified, when we feel lost, and when we

feel like we've just hit a brick wall. I've learned that obedience

brings blessings but not in the way we expect, that sometimes those

blessings are trials. I've learned that you can feel so unqualified

for a calling you've been given, but that Christ will qualify you.

I've learned that trials and challenges are to teach us a principle of

the gospel at a level that we didn't understand it before. Finally

I've learned that "relying wholly upon the merits of He who is mighty

to save" is the only way to become what He wants us to become. Life

isn't far, life isn't easy, none ever said it would be. We were told

that we needed to do this to progress, and we wanted to progress, so

we chose to do this. We were promised that we wouldn't do it alone

though, as long as we strive to be obedient, work to be forgiving,

repent of our sins, and do our very best to follow Christ.

We aren't always given what we want, but we are given what we need.

Our Father loves us, our Brother loves us and really, what else

matters?

I love you all. I hope that you have a great week! I want to invite

you all to serve Christ in a way that you haven't before, I know that

it will be worth it and that you'll learn something that you never

thought was possible as you do so.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Sent from Kutztown, PA 🐻

Funny Faces

BB-8 Bop it

Birthday Cake

Birthday Girl

Josie and Sister Bush

Hey all you! It's been such a great week! Thank you for all of the

birthday wishes, thoughts, packages, and cards! I love you all! I hope

you are all enjoying the greatest holiday of the year and that you all

eat some apple pie for me!

It has been a great week! We had an awesome lesson with a lady named

Sister Hughes! She is a less active who hasn't been active in about

ten years. It was so awesome to meet her! We got her records just a

few weeks ago so we got to go visit with her! She is so awesome! She's

got an awesome bunch of kids and a family that's hungry for the

gospel! It was amazing!

We also met with Dave this week! He prayed at the end of our lesson

and he prayed that he would believe in what we were teaching! He also

lost his Book of Mormon so he printed off the chapter we left him to

read! It was awesome! He's doing so great! We are excited to see him

progress!

We haven't met with Jean and Rich this week due to some family things

that they are going though but they are doing well!

We had an amazing lesson this week with a girl named Ashley! She was a

referral from a member and she is so ready for the gospel! She really

needed the Plan of Salvation and as we taught it tears kept filling

her eyes as she felt the spirit testify of how it is a real! It was

one of the best lessons I've had as a missionary and I loved being

able to testify about something that is so real and so personal. I

love it!

We got to go see Brenda again! I love her so much! She is amazing and

she loves the gospel so much it's incredible! She also loves books

(she had doubles of some, so mom, watch out for a package)! We got to

help her organize her bookshelves and it was like heaven for me! I

felt right at home helping her organize them, don't worry I didn't

read any. I wrote a lot down though!

One thing that is so crazy that happened this week. Our car died. Well

the battery was so drained that we couldn't jump it with a car, so

that we thought we needed to be towed. We called the tow truck

company, and he jumped it with a jumper box and it started right

up....we took it to autozone and it turns out that it is totally fine.

'Tis the life of a missionary....

This gospel is so true my friends. It's so true. Teaching Ashley the

Plan of Salvation really hit me. I got to testify of how I could see

my loved ones again. This gospel is so real, and so many people are

missing out of the truth that we have. They don't know what it means

to have what we have. That is why I'm a missionary, to help people

find what is missing from their lives. Wether it is from doing

service, by example or by missionary work. It is amazing to watch the

gospel light up people's lives. I highly recommend it, it is great and

the most rewarding thing I've done in my 20 years of life.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Sent from Kutztown, PA 🐻

Hello all you lovely people! It has been yet again another great week

out here in PA! It's been a little drier out here and it's been

amazing. Not a whole lot happened this week, but we did have some

amazing experiences none the less! We have seen so my fireflies and

it's beautiful to see the way they light up the darkness, it's like

learning the gospel. A light inside the darkness of the world.

So, let's start with our first lesson with Jean and Rich this week! It

was awesome! We talked a lot about forgiveness and what it feels like

to forgive and how we can forgive. We answered a lot of questions

again about what we believe and what it's like to be Mormon. It was

really cool! They also talked a lot about baptism and what our baptism

ceremonies are like and how they would be baptized and all sorts of

stuff!

One awesome thing that happened before that lesson was that we had

about 30-45 minutes of tracting before our lesson. So we just knocked

around their neighborhood and it was so awesome! We met a guy named

Dan and he was really interested in us coming back! He was so cool, he

loved the Prince of Peace video, and we had a great talk about who

Jesus Christ is to each of us. But the coolest was when we were

knocking on this door we heard a little boy and his father behind us,

the little boy said "daddy what they doing?" The dad responded with "I

think they are waiting for them to answer the door." Well, the people

never did. As we walked away from the door the dad said to us "my son

wants to know what you're doing." So we explained who we are and what

we are doing and had this amazing conversation with him about Jesus

Christ and religion in general. We didn't get his name, number or

address, but we were able to share a video with him and his son, and

if nothing else, we strengthened his faith in Christ.

We met a less active this week named Nina, she's super awesome! She's

been through a few hard things lately but she still has her faith.

She's really so awesome! She told us she doesn't really know why she

went less active, it just happened one day. She is super welcoming to

missionaries and visits though! She always said that she loves having

missionaries over and loves the talk with us so we will for sure be

going back soon!

Before we met Nina we had the chance to go tracting, we met two super

cool people! They both seemed interested in learning more and learning

about Jesus Christ. Hopefully we will be seeing them soon!

We had a lesson with a YSA that was being taught by the Pottsville

Elders. His name is John and he was super cool! He also got baptized

on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! He will be attending the

Pottsville branch most of the time, due to the fact that Kutztown is

so far from Pottsville but he will be coming to the activities! It was

super cool to teach him because about half of the branch showed up for

it! Then on Saturday we were able to ride down with Sophie Walmer and

attend his baptism! It was so super cool!

We did a whole lot of service this week! A less active by the name of

Brenda got some furniture this week and we were able to help her set

it all up! She hurt her back a few years ago so she can't bend down,

which proves to be hard when you are putting furniture together. She

is so awesome! We were also able to help Sister Marriaga make cookies

for youth conference this week and then help clean Sister Milners

house as a random act of service this week. They were out in NJ and

Sister Marriaga called us to see if we wanted to help her clean up

around the house so that Sister Milner could come home to a clean

house, so that's what we did!

We were supposed to have a lesson with Shawntiana but she ended up

having to cancel since her brother fell down the stars, so hopefully

we can see her this week! We also finally got into contact with Dave

again and we are meeting with him this week! Hopefully we can see

Sister Monroe, she's had a little bit of a crazy schedule lately!

we had an amazing lesson with Jean and Rich on Saturday. They were

able to join us at the Kutztown building for a church tour! It was so

awesome! They had a lot of questions and were so excited to learn

about all the stuff! When we got to the baptismal font we were so

excited because we were ready to invite to baptism! But instead, they

had a lot of questions about what would happen WHEN they are baptized

and how it would all go! It was so awesome!

Sunday was great as always! We had a lesson with the Skidmores and it

was one of the best lessons I've had with them! We talked about the

conference talk "Whatsoever He smith until you, do it." And about how

obedience to the small and simple things bring the great things to

pass (Alma 37:6). It was so awesome! We talked about how we can choose

to be obedient everyday and how when we are doing the little things we

are able to follow the big things better than we otherwise could. It

was just such a good lesson.

This week I studied one of the best conference talks I've ever read.

It's "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" by Keith W. Pearson in April of

2009. It was so good! In it he talks about the six D's of destruction,

or the six ways that Satan tears us down. He also talks about why it's

so important to have faith in Christ and in who He is. One of my

favorite parts is:

"There is a quality of faith which develops as we focus all of our

heart, might, mind, and strength. It is seen and felt in the eyes of a

great missionary, a valiant and virtuous young woman, and righteous

mothers, fathers, and grandparents. It can be seen in the lives of

individuals young and old, in every land and culture, speaking every

language, in every circumstance and station in life. It is the “eye of

faith” spoken of by the prophet Alma (see Alma 5:15–26)--the ability

to focus and be steadfast, continually holding fast to true

principles, nothing wavering, even when the mist of darkness

confronting us is exceedingly great. This quality of faith is

exceedingly powerful."

I love this quote. It is just such a good way to think of the eye of

faith, and it gives a good thought provoking way of thinking. As I

read this talk I really thought about if I have an "eye of faith" and

what I'm doing each day to build my faith in Christ. Because faith is

a muscle. If we don't use our muscles they grow weak, if we don't use

our faith it grows weak. So, why is it important to even have faith?

Because that is the only thing that will keep you grounded in a world

that is so intent on pleasures of the carnal mind, a world that seeks

to destroy the righteous, a world that tries to convince you that it

matters which phone you have, what car you drive and what brand of

jeans you put on in the morning, a world that is growing increasingly

wicked and self absorbed, a world where if you don't have a certain

amount of likes of friends on social media you are nothing, a world

like the one described in Helaman 7:5 "Condemning the righteous

because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go

unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office

at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills,

that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that

they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and

do according to their own wills." A world that is being overrun by

Satan because he knows this is his last shot to ruin our shot at

eternal happiness, the little punk. It's our job as believers to stand

for what's right, to use our faith daily and to stand by the sacred

covenants we have made with Christ. Our faith is only built if we work

to build it.

I love you all! Until next week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Rain storm attire

Appointment missed

Slurpees for days

Hello all you people all over the world! I hope that you are enjoying

the heat (or for those in South America that youre enjoying the cool)

and that you are loving life! It has been yet another great week out

here in the Keystone state! It has officially gotten humid and

horrible, my hair doesnt like it. The worst was the cooling system was

broken in the chapel yesterday so for both of my sacrament meetings i

was melting 77 degrees with 67% humidity with a bunch of other hot

bodies, it seriously would hit you like a wall, it was so bad!

This week we went and saw Sister Price again and she is doing great!

We were able to help her paint some of the statues she has for her

bamboo forest and just talk with her! She is doing a lot better than

last week and then after we left she texted us and told us that she

needs to find her way back to her church! She is so awesome and I am

so excited to keep working with her!

We also got to meet with Shawntiana this week! It was kind of a crazy

story since she lives in Bethlehem! We have to get rides when we go to

teach her because we don't have the miles to drive up there all the

time. So this week we drove up with Sophie Walmer one of the YSA's!

She is so incredibly sweet! Anyway, we actually had two lessons that

day, one in Allentown and the one with Shawntiana. So we went to the

one in Allentown and the lady ended up canceling so what did we do? We

walked, as we were walking we were stopped by a group of ladies who

had lots of questions for us! She asked us about what we were going to

do and who we were and all of that! She ended up giving us her address

and her number so that we could go back and teach her! The lord give

miracles when you still work hard when plans fall through! Our lesson

with Shawntiana was so awesome! She accepted baptism and even prayed

to know if she needs to be baptized with us! It was so cool to see the

spirit fill the room!

This week Sister Bush and I got permission to join the rebellion. Our

YSA branch had an activity at Applebees, but it was at 9 at night. So

yeah. We talked with President Randall last week and he told us we

could go but we had to be in by 10! So we went, and it was weird to be

out past nine, at Applebees on karaoke night. They all kept commenting

on how awkward we looked! It was one time on my mission that I felt

incredibly out of place!

This week we also had mission tour with Elder Kopischke, a member of

the seventy on the same day we had our lesson with Shawntiana. So we

were down in Broomall until 4 being taught by the spirit! I learned so

much about my purpose as a missionary, how I can follow the spirit

better and how I can let the spirit change me! It was so awesome to be

there and to learn! We talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation and

how we should teach it. We also talked about how important it is to

follow all of the promptings that the Spirit gives to us, so this week

I have tried to do just that! I have seen so many things happen

because I followed the spirit in the moments when I most needed to! I

was able to bear testimony to a less active over the phone because I

did not know what to say, I was able to have impressions to go visit

people and to study certain things, it was awesome!

One of the best things about this week was the temple. We were able to

go to the temple on Saturday and do some baptisms! I had found some

names not to long ago who needed all of their ordinances done so I was

able to help them receive the ordinances of baptism and confirmation

and it was so powerful! The spirit is so amazing in the temple. I just

love it! We also ran into Sister Kuta, Sister Adhikari, Sister Durrant

and Sister Counts outside the temple and it was so cool to see all of

them!

Oh goodness, I love my mission. I love the Lord and I LOVE this gospel

and the opportunity that I have to share it with all of those who will

listen!

Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Temple Day

Applebee's rebel night

Car Selfies

Sister Bush and Josie

Hello my lovelies, my dears, my friends and my family! It has been

quite the week out here in PA! First thing is first. Its finally

getting humid and I don't know how I feel about that, don't worry mom,

I am drinking lots of water. I will say the humidity does not stop the

work of the Lord or the servants of the Lord! We still got out and

walked and worked and did the very best we could!

We had an awesome lesson last Monday after our great P-Day! We went

and met the referral I talked about last week, Jean! She is so

awesome! Her husband Rich also joined us for the lesson and wowza.

Between the two of them we had so many questions! We got asked

everything from "So what are Mormons?" "What makes you different?" To

"Who is God?" "Where will I go after this life?" So, basically we were

jumping between "How to Begin Teaching" (PMG pg. 176-77), the

restoration, and the plan of salvation. It was quite the adventure! We

were able to set up a return appointment and we will be going over

again tomorrow to see how it is all going! Its gonna be great!

This week we were able to do a whole lot of service! We spent some

time at a bamboo farm with a less active member. Sister Price! She is

hilarious! So, she forgot that we were coming because they were going

through some things as a family and we didn't have a number to contact

her so we still went anyway! Well, she was a little scatter brained

but we were able to help her clean up the bamboo shucks from the front

of her yard and then just help her get her mind off of things. She is

hilarious! She told us she is all about peace, love and bamboo! During

this i discovered that missionary work is more than just helping

around the yard and then leaving, but that Christ would have been

there to help Sister Price take her mind off of things so thats what

we would do too.

That night we had dinner with the Kirklands. As always it is an

adventure to go over there! I love them so much! I have had a few

people ask me how Sister Kirkland went from a Jewish Princess to a

Mormon Pioneer, well in July 1986 she had an article published in the

Ensign titled "A book different from any other" and that has her

conversion story written in it. It's so awesome!

Wednesday was rather uneventful, Dave left us a note on his door

telling us he had to cancel, but when we got home we found a spricket!

I'll attach videos and pictures dont worry.

On Thursday we had a rather long adventure! We had interviews with

President Randall and it was so awesome! We met with him in Nazareth,

which means we drove through Emmaus to Bethlehem then up to Nazareth.

Did I get a mission call to PA or to the Middle East? Anyway,

interviews are always such a good time! President is such an inspired

man and always has such great things to talk about with each of us to

help us further the work along!

We had another service activity on Friday. We spent most of the day

helping Sister Donio in her garden and boy oh boy was it hot! We were

both a sweaty mess after all that was over. We pulled weeds, cut back

flowers, set up a fence and then ate some pizza!

After that we headed to a dinner with the Monroes. Now, lets talk

about this dinner for a while.  We requested breakfast for dinner, cuz

i mean missionaries almost never get bacon, or waffles. Anyway, we

went over and they have a DEATH STAR WAFFLE IRON SO WE ATE DEATH STAR

WAFFLES. They were delicious, I am all about Death Star waffles.

Anyway, we had a nice bonding experience over Star Wars. Then Sister

Bush and I sang "Come Thou Fount" and Sister Bush played the guitar!

It was so cool! I also got to play with their life size, limited

edition light sabers, it was awesome. Anyway, we had this super great

night and at the end as we got ready to leave Brother Monroe told

Sister Monroe she has to get baptized while we are here! So we set up

an appointment with her for Thursday and it is going to be so great!

After we left she texted us and told us she is thankful we came over

because she really needed that. So it was so awesome!

Sunday was stake conference and it was awesome! We spent most of

Saturday in Reading in meetings and then only spent two hours there on

Sunday for the meeting. It was so awesome! They talked a lot about

temples and the Book of Mormon. Those two things are key ideas and

points to our religion! It was so awesome and uplifting to hear the

testimonies of the men and women who spoke!

Just a few days ago I was studying in Alma chapter 48. There were some

verses that really stuck out to me as I was reading.

"11And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect

understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man

whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and

his brethren from bondage and slavery;

12 Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for

the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a

man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his

people.

13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he

had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his

country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood."

"17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were,

and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell

would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power

over the hearts of the children of men."

Wow, Moroni is so amazing. I especially love verse 17. Could you

imagine a world with more Captain Moroni's and less Laman and

Lemuel's? It would be quite the world wouldn't it? Since I read these

verses I have been thinking about what I could do to become a little

more like a Captain Moroni, and I would like to invite each of you to

do the same, what can you change this week to be a little more like a

Captain Moroni? It could be something big, like attending church/the

temple, or something "small" like praying everyday. Or anywhere in

between. I know it will being you closer to God and close to who He

needs you to be!

I love you all! I love my mission and the time I get out here to find

those who are being prepared for the gospel. I love the Savior and the

relationship I have gained with Him since coming out on my mission.

Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

The district

Josie and Sister Bush

Hello from the greatest state on the Eastern Seaboard! I hope you all

had a great week and that you are all enjoying your freedom from

school (for those of you who haven't made it yet enjoy the taste of

freedom, youre almost there!) Well the weather has been kind to us for

the most part, it has been super muggy and super humid today though so

thats been real great.

This week I have been humbled and humbled and humbled again! We spent

most of the day Tuesday and Wednesday knocking and talking! At the end

of the day our feet killed, our skin was dry and we were pretty sure

we were sunburned. I wish I could report that at least one of the

doors we knocked on we found someone who said yes, but we saw some

amazing miracles in other ways!

On Tuesday we were just about to head home for the night when we

decided to try one more door. We knocked and a man named Issac

answered. He had dinner cooking on the stove so he did not have much

time but said he would watch the Prince of Peace. We showed it and

then talked with him for a few more minutes, we ended up setting a

return appointment! He was our fourth floor, last door after a long

day of rejection and sweating.

Wednesday we sadly just knocked all day to no avail. Thursday we saw

the miracles from our hard work and obedience to the Lord! During

weekly planning we got a referral named Jean,  well we called Jean and

she answered the phone by saying "Hello!"  When we asked if a Jean

lived there, she said "This is the one you are looking for!" Needless

to say we set up an appointment and will be going there tonight to see

what happens! Next miracle was at the end of the day, after two great

lessons and a few minutes to go finding we went to Walmart to get some

things that we needed on our dinner break. Well we were a little ahead

of schedule when we walked in, and we met Janet. Janet works at

Walmart as a greeter and it was so awesome to talk with her! She had

met with missionaries before when she was younger and had even read a

little of the Book of Mormon! Anyway, we walked in and she stopped us

and had a few questions about the plates and about Joseph Smith, which

we were able to answer! We were able to get her number and address so

that in a few weeks we can go by and give her a new Book of Mormon

because she told us if she sees us in Walmart again shed "love to buy

one of the Bible's from us." We told her that they are free and we

would love to bring one to her house sometime! She agreed! It was such

a tender mercy from the Lord!

So, also on Thursday we taught Yao and Dave! Yao had a lot of

questions about the plan of salvation and agency and the premortal

life. We did our very best to answer them and ended leaving her a

commitment to pray and to aak Father her questions and then to read

the scriptures to find her answer! As for Dave, WE HAD THE BEST

LESSON!! If you remember last time we met with him we invited him to

be baptized and he said that he would think about it. Well, he thought

about it, guess what his answer was? Yes! He said he would like to be

baptized. We taught a great lesson on the plan of salvation and on how

his wife is learning about the gospel in the spirit world, just as he

is in this world. He is going to pray about a date to be baptized and

then this week we will talk about it!

Also, another miracle this week! Since we cover the whole stake for

the YSA branch we get all the YSA investigators from the whole stake.

Well, the elders in Bethlehem sent us an investigator with a baptismal

date! Shawntiana is so great! We are going to be meeting with her

tomorrow and it is going to be great!

We have had some crazy times, Sister Bush and I. We have cleaned our

trash can in the shower, stacked our beds on top of each other to

clean our apartment, and killed a bug that flew and jumped in our car.

Sister Bush is awesome, she is from Cedar City and love the missionary

work! She has a golden fire, that is for sure! Plus we make the two

presidents with our last names, Jackson and Bush. So you cant go wrong

with that!

This week has been amazing. We have been studying about repentance and

there is a great quote from Elder Bednar, "We refer to Christ as the

redeemer, but we dont appreciate redemption." How often do we just

think we can do the process by ourselves? How often do we think we

have fallen to far to be redeemed? My friend and family, Christ came

to Earth to help us, to redeem us and to forgive us. I have said it

before and I will say it again. Trust in Him. Believe Him.

I know that obedience brings blessings, that God answers our prayers,

that Christ loves us, that we can overcome the world, and that the

church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and you will

find yourself within the pages of that book.

I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Sister Bush and Josie

JOSIE 

Still our Josie

9 month celebration!